What is Social Media Keyword Research?

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We all know about keyword research as it relates to SEO and visibility for any website. Tracking down and exploiting the right phrase is such an important part of getting yourself seen that there are endless blog posts, tools, articles and webinars dedicated to it. Not to mention the podcasts, videos and other forms of media where keywords are the main topic.

But what is social media keyword research?

Keyword Research for Social Sites

This is similar to regular search marketing and keyword research. The only difference is that it is being used in the context of social media, such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest, among others. You use the research not to track the most marketable keywords themselves on a long term basis, but rather what is trending and being used right now.

Occasionally, you will find a social keyword that has staying power. But for the most part, this practice is incredibly fluid and every changing. What is being bandied around Twitter today will become less popular in subsequent days, sometimes even within a couple of hours.

How Do I Use Social Keyword Research?

What you have to remember is that you are engaging customers not based on the brand you are pushing, but on a level of what it represents. Interests, needs and other, more personal factors to that demographic are what you will be using to determine the best social keywords being used right now.

In order to properly do this, you have to deal with each social site on its own. This can be a pretty exhausting task, so I recommend going with the biggest names, rather than the smaller social networks that aren’t gaining as much traction or loyalty.

Twitter is one of the best, due to its constant use, influence over trends and open nature. You can use their live search algorithm to determine what is currently hot, and how related keywords are doing through hashtags. Now that Facebook is allowing hashtags, it makes sense to use the same tactics there.

Another good site is YouTube, as putting in the beginning of any keyword will show you the most popular searches in that niche.

Here are some of the best resources to read about social media keyword research:

Hashtag Marketing 101: Lots of tools and insights here at @CrazyEgg: How hashtags are different on different platforms and how to find those that fit your niche!

Hashtagify: Research hashtags and find trending hashtags on Twitter. This is a great free tool that I highly recommend for tracking Twitter trends. You can also embed any hashtag graph to your website for more fun, interactive content.